After the polar blast of a few weeks back, we have opened our eyes to the luminous full bloom of premature spring
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
These unseasonal late-winter days of warmth and clear skies, of the sudden necessity of shorts and T-shirts for the morning dog walk, are at once glorious and somewhat disconcerting.
Spring – the season of renewal, of awakening, of birth and perhaps rebirth – demands to be celebrated. But somehow this year, all of its ridiculously early harbingers feel double-edged for their presaging of the realities of climate change and sea-level rise.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 10:00
08/29/2024 - 10:00
A drone image of two humpback whales ‘bubble-net feeding’ by Western Australian photographer Scott Portelli has taken out the top prize in the 2024 Australian Geographic nature photographer of the year competition. This is a cooperative hunting strategy used by humpbacks that allows as many of them as possible to feed in a short time. It is widely believed the whales developed this feeding method after they were hunted to near extinction. The image was chosen from 1,856 entries and the exhibition is now on at the South Australian Museum until 3 November
Focusing in on the microscopic world of nanophotography – in pictures
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 10:00
Survey of 95 labs in Australia and New Zealand finds 71% use antimicrobial drugs and in ways that ‘a lot of the time’ could be avoided
Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Chronic and unregulated use and disposal of antibiotics in animal research facilities is contributing to the emergence of drug-resistant superbugs that could pose a threat to human health, according to new research.
A study published in the journal Plos One found widespread and excessive use of antibiotics, unregulated access to critical drugs and disposal practices in laboratory rodent facilities were likely contributing to the global health problem of antimicrobial resistance.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 09:46
Had fires been ranked alongside countries they would have been world’s fourth-largest emitter, study finds
Wildfires that swept Canada’s woodlands last year released more greenhouse gases than some of the largest emitting countries, a study found on Wednesday, calling into question national emissions budgets that rely on forests as carbon stores.
At 647 megatonnes, the carbon released in last year’s wildfires exceeded those of seven of the 10 largest national emitters in 2022, including Germany, Japan and Russia, the study published in the journal Nature found.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 09:00
City-wide initiative gives restaurants free solar panels to ‘support the community’ during storms and power outages
As a restaurant owner in New Orleans, Shaka Gerel is no stranger to hurricanes.
Afrodisiac, the Jamaican Creole fusion food truck he started with his wife Caron, served jerk chicken and crawfish etouffee, rain or shine, for years. When particularly bad storms took out the city’s power, the couple sometimes used their bright purple truck’s generator to offer their neighbors a place to charge their phones or refill on ice.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 08:00
Numbers surged after changes to the agricultural census. Advocates say that’s not what they’ve seen on the ground
Earlier this summer, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) released data that suggested that, after years of decline, the number of Black farmers has grown to more than 45,000.
This is in stark contrast to the dire situation of Black producers in the 1990s, when a New York Times article predicted their coming extinction; Black farm numbers had fallen below 20,000 in that decade.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 08:00
And Nothing Is Forever and I Can Never Say Goodbye will be available on 1 October, using the ‘most recyclable’ plastic available, part of a Naked Record Club project to benefit the EarthPercent charity
The Cure are set to release live recordings of two new, previously unreleased songs on an environmentally friendly vinyl edition.
Featuring the songs And Nothing Is Forever and I Can Never Say Goodbye, The Cure – Novembre: Live in France 2022 will be released on eco-vinyl on 1 October, with all profits to benefit the climate charity EarthPercent, founded by Brian Eno.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 06:53
Government says it will not challenge reviews of approval given to controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank fields
UK politics live – latest updates
The future of two of the UK’s most controversial oil and gas projects has been thrown into doubt, after the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, withdrew government support for the companies in two legal cases brought by campaigners.
The Jackdaw gasfield, operated by Shell, was given approval in 2022, and Greenpeace applied for a judicial review shortly after the decision. Last year, the previous Conservative government gave the green light to Equinor-operated Rosebank, the UK’s biggest untapped oilfield, against the recommendation of climate advisers. Greenpeace and Uplift demanded a judicial review, arguing that the approval was incompatible with the UK’s legally binding climate commitments, and saying that ministers’ original analysis ignored the devastating impact of burning oil from the site.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 06:47
Campaigners hail Labour’s ‘proactive approach’ after series of policy U-turns under Conservatives
UK politics live – latest updates
Business live – latest updates
The UK government is considering making further commitments on cutting greenhouse gas emissions, likely to be announced at the UN climate summit this year.
It is hoped the plan will help kickstart global ambitions on cutting emissions and encourage other countries to follow suit.
Continue reading...
08/29/2024 - 06:00
Tribes fought for decades to restore the Klamath to its natural state and protect the salmon that spawn there
Salmon will swim freely through a major watershed near the California-Oregon border for the first time in more than a century, as the largest dam-removal project in US history nears completion this week.
Workers breached the final dams on a key section of the Klamath River on Wednesday, clearing the way for the river to run unobstructed.
Continue reading...